Distance In Your Eyes
by Mrs. Mojo Risin' Blues
Summary: Knuckles finds himself on Earth after attempting to rescue the Master Emerald from Eggman, only to be taken in by a conciderate young woman. As thier friendship grows, so does the tention on having to find the missing peices. Will he succeed?
1. Not Exactly a Sonic Boom

**AN: The first enstallment of 'Distance In Your Eyes'. Now bear with me, because my memory sucks for I haven't played a Sonic game in years. I've created this story using only my imagination and the memories I have of the characters and their personalities.**

As he laid back against the Master Emerald he was protecting, he crossed his legs and arms and gazed at the veiw that beheld in front of him. Knuckles the Echidna had always enjoyed watching the sun set over the ocean on his homeland of Angel Island. It seemed as if he could always have something to look forward to as each day ended. Being the only guradian of the Master Emerald, he couldn't live a normal life like his friends. Well, his friends don't exactly have normal lives concidering the fact that one is a mechanic genuis fox and the other is a freedom-loving, ambitious hedgehog. Being a guradian, however, was a life long commitment that was forced on him ever since he was born. He knew the importance of his role and he knew how dedicated he had to be, especially since the Master Emerald was the only thing that kept the island afloat and thus perserving his heritage, but he often thought about life beyond Angel Island or even Planet Mobius for that matter.

Knuckles sighed sadly as he continued to watch the sun set.

_I shouldn't be thinking like this...It's not right; I have my duties to serve and to Protect.._

He tried shaking the thoughts from his head and he closed his eyes, trying to take a small nap. His efforts were futile however, as he heard the distant sounds of his two buddies laughing and playing nearby a body of water.

"Knuckles! Knuckles!" the familiar voice of Miles 'Tails' Prower called out.

Knuckles opened his eyes and sneered as he looked down at the fox "What?"

"Come and hang with us!" Tails pleaded "Sonic is too much of a chicken to go into the water!"

"Hey!" the voice of the Blues hedgehog objected "You know I can't swim!"

"Well, Knuckles can show you!" Tails argued "C'mon Knucks!"

"I'm not going down there!" Knuckles argued as he laid back and closed his eyes again

"Well, as a concerned friend" Sonic began "I think you're in need of a break from that gem. You're going to go crazy if you don't relax even for just a little bit!"

"Yeah, Knuckles!" Tails called out "Come and take a break with us!"

The Echidna growled and rolled his eyes in irritation "Fine! Just promise to leave me in peace as I relax"

"Whatever you say" Sonic replied

Knuckles left his seat in front of the emerald and decided to decend down the ruins' stairs to meet with the hedgehog and fox. He took out a retractable beach chair, sat down, crossed his arms, and decided to take a nap as Tails continued to tease Sonic over his fear of water.

"C'mon, Sonic! It's just water. It's not even deep!" Tails said as he stepped his sneaker in the water

Sonic just rolled his eyes and ignored him

"One of these days, you're going to have to learn to swim" Tails reminded him

"But that day isn't today" Sonic retorted

"But it could be today"

Knuckles sneered and opened a purple eye, irritated that his nap was again being inturrupted.

He growled at the young fox "Look Tails, Sonic doesn't want to learn to swim! Not now, not ever! Now, shut up and let me sleep!"

Unbeknownst to them, as they argued, a robotic machine hovered iconspicuously over the Master Emerald with it's claw slowly decending from it. A low chuckle emerged from the controller's throat as the claw got closer and closer to the emerald when the claw finally cletched it from the top.

"I can't beleive how easy this is without that cursed echidna around protecting it." Dr. Eggman said to himself "Now, I can fully try out my new transporter. If the Master Emerald can survive it, than the Chaos emerlads will surely survive it."

Knuckles was ignorant to what was happening to his precious emerald, but as he continued to attempt to sleep, he had a strong suspicion that the Master Emerald was in trouble.

_Maybe it's a gut feeling...or paranoia... Whatever the case is, I need to check up on the emerald._

Knuckles got up from the beach chair andbegan climbing up the cliff with his strong fists. Knuckles arrived to the top where he saw Eggman on his Eggmobile with the emerald.

"GIVE BACK THE EMERALD, EGGMAN!" Knuckles yelled angrily through sharp, cletched teeth.

"It's your fault, Knuckles" Dr Eggman said slyly "You should've been keeping an eye out for this thing or else the bad guys would get to it!"

Knuckkles growled and yelled as he leaped up to Eggman's height and began fighting him while trying to take the emerald from the claw. Eggman was a terrible fighter, but he had fast relfexes and his Eggmobile helped him improve greatly as he fought with Knuckles. As Knuckles missed his punches on Eggman, Sonic and Tails began to notice the noise of quarell that was taking place. Sonic grabbed ahold of Tails' hands as Tails flew up to the top of the island. When the two landed, they saw their ally fighting with Eggman.

"Oh no!" Tails exclaimed "We gotta help him, Sonic!"

The Eggmobile swerved rapidly in the sky as Eggman and Knuckles messed with the controls to stop one another.

_BBOOOOSH!_

It crashed onto a cliff.

_WHAMMM!_

It landed on the ground

_Swooosh!_

It's in the sky again.

Sonic and Tails tried to help out thier ally, but they constantly ducked and moved out of the way as the chaos continued. The Eggmobile was up and about, flying and swerving in the sky like a broken down roller coaster.

"We can't help him out at this rate!" Sonic exclaimed to Tails as he dodged again "We'll end up getting squashed by that thing!"

Knuckles let out a frustrated yell and swereved a punch that was directed at Eggman, but he dodged out of the way and made Knuckles press the transporter button. Sonic and Tails saw right in front of their eyes, the Eggmobile, and it's passengers disapear into thin air.

"KNUCKLES!" they yelled in unison

The air around the two fighting enemies got darker until it was black with just a hint of white and began to swirl around them as they continued to fight. Knuckles quickly grew dizzy from the swirling patches of black and specks of white but was determied to fight Eggamn for his emerald.

_I gotta do this..._

Knuckles shook his head and blinked his eyes as he tried to focus. As he fought, he noticed the atomsphere around him change, not just physically but universally. The grvavtional pull was getting heavier and heavier which meant the risk of either one of them falling had multiplied.  
Eggman suddenly pushed Knuckles off the machine and tried to make him fall into the swirls of the transporting air and for him to be lost into space. Knuckles fell off the machine, but gripped onto the Master Emerald for dear life, rather to protect it instead of himself. The vertigo was getting to be too much for the echidna but he managed to grip on it...until Eggman shot a laser at him, and unintentionally, the emerald.

The emerald shattered into many peices and Knuckles plummetted from the Eggmobile. The gravitational pull nearby Earth was powerful so he fell dangerously and began to burn up like a metorite, headed towards Earth. Knuckles began to loose conciousness as his body plummetted closer and closer to Earth.

Until it came to an end with a loud boom and a deep impact landing...

* * *

There was silence as dust particles swirled gently in the air until a black scottish terrier made it's way towards the hole in the ground that suddenly appeared in front of him. The dog sniffed at the hole and who was inside it until it let out a couple of alarming barks. At that moment, a young woman made her way to the front entrance of her house, got out her keys and unlocked the door. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her as she noticed, from the sliding door, the dog bark at something in her back yard. She set down her purse and opened her sliding door.

"Pepper!" she called out to the little black dog.

Pepper turned his head and approached her, still barking as if saying_ Look what I found!_

The female followed the terrier to the hole curiously as she saw the dust particles swerve in the air. She peeked inside the deep hole in the ground and found the red echidna unconcious.

_What?...how?...so?...what?_

She looked up at the sky curiously and looked down at the huge dirt hole.

_He must have fallen from the sky...but...does that mean he's...from space?_

Despite her confusion and curiousity for how the echidna ended up there in her backyard, she felt great pity towards him especially because of the condition he was in. She leaned down and tried to pick him up gently, for she could see one of his legs was broken. Once she was sucessful in picking him up, she headed back inside the house with the little dog following right behind her.

**AN: Sorry if this first chapter sucked. It's my very first Sonic related fanfic so no flames. Just...Constructive critism, I guess. The identity of the female who got Knuckles will be revealed in the next chapter so I hope that'll keep some readers interested.**


	2. Close Encounters of the Human Kind

**AN: I know i havent updated this story in a while. I dealt with school, personal crap, and school some more but I succeeded in completing this chapter so enjoy **

**We left off with the woman picking Knuckles up...**

The young woman stepped inside her house with Pepper the terrier following right by her ankles. She laid down the still unconscious Knuckles on the sofa with gentility, in fear of hurting him even more. As she headed to her room to get a first aid kit, a blanket and a pillow, Pepper leapt to Knuckles' side and continued to sniff him. He panted happily and began to lick Knuckles on the cheek. He stirred as he felt the slobber and wet tounge and he gently opened his purple eyes. After wiping the slobber from his face with a grimace, he turned his head slowly and found himself face to face with the panting dog. Knuckles got startled as he sat up but felt a sudden sharp pain on his leg. He looked down at his leg and at the dog in front of him in wonder.

_Where did he come from?_

Knuckles looked down at his injured leg and tried to move it. He winced and gritted his teeth in pain and soon found out the real damage. His left leg was broken almost right in half.

_I can't heal this myself..._

He was frantic as he looked at the unfamiliar atmosphere around him. He found a comfortable looking kitchen a few feet away from he was sitting, a flat screen TV in front of him on a cherry wood entertainment center, and a 2 foot by 3 foot fish tank that inhabited about five different colored fish. Knuckles knew these things were common to the humans in Station Square.

_I know I'm not in Station Square_ he thought as he remembered his aerial encounter with Eggman _...So... where am I?_

"Oh, you're awake"

Knuckles turned his head towards the female voice and saw it's owner. A young woman about 23 years old, entered the living room with a pillow, blanket, and a first aid kit resting on top of the two items. She was wearing a very casual purple and red striped pajama outfit with her dark brown curls tied in a lazy pony. She looked harmless, but Knuckles wasn't going to be easily fooled like he normally was known for.

_For all I know, she could be the one who broke my leg!_

The more she got closer to him, the more Knuckles sunk back into the black leather couch.

"Don't worry" she said in a sweet, caring manner "I won't hurt you."

"Why should I trust you?!" Knuckles snipped

The human woman blinked once, surprised by his voice and his irritation "You can talk!"

"Of course, I can talk! I'm an echidna, aren't I?!" he said rudely

"Well...I don't know how it is in your home...place." she began as her confusion grew "But here, Echidnas don't talk...nor do they look like you."

Knuckles blinked once, confused by her statement "They don't?"

"Nope"

"So if echidnas here don't look like me...then where am I?" Knuckles asked with caution

"You're on Earth" she replied as Pepper cuddled on her lap "Where are you from?"

"Mobius" he replied "I'm also an inhabitant of Angel Island and the Guardian of the Master Emerald."

_Planet Mobius? He sounds like he could be an alien! But...aliens aren't supposed to be red...I think..._

"Guardian of the Master Emerald...sounds almost regal" she said with a raised eyebrow, impressed by the title, trying to hide her suspicion "Do you have a name?"

"Yeah." he replied as his mood calmed down "I'm Knuckles"

"I'm Sharon" she replied with a gentle smile "Sharon Helmsley."

She extended her hand out for him to shake. Knuckles was hesitant, for he still couldn't trust the human he had met one hundred percent. Finally, he extended his white fist and shook her gentle hand.

"I appreciate you helping me out," Knuckles began "But I need to get back home. I can't stay"

"But you have to stay!" Sharon exclaimed "Who's going to help with that broken leg?!"

"I can manage"

Knuckles tried to get down from the couch, but the seething pain was to unbearable for even his standards. He fell forward on his knees, making his head hit the brown carpet.

"Ouch"

"Let me try to help" Sharon offered

She got a closer look at his leg and shook her head. "Oh, I can't fix this. The damage is too severe."

"Do you know anyone who can fix it?"

"Yeah, my friend Lucas can." Sharon replied as she looked for her cellphone "He's a veterinarian. I'll call him up right now"

"Great" Knuckles grouched "Another human knowing I'm here..."

"Oh Lucas is very discreet over these situations" Sharon reassured "You being here will be our little secret."

"Good" Knuckles replied "because I don't want other people to know I'm here"

Sharon finally found her cell and dialed Lucas' number in the other room. As she paced the room, waiting for him to pick up the phone, Knuckles looked at his injured leg and sighed impatiently

_This is only a minor setback. Once my leg heals, I'm gonna look for more of my emerald pieces...if my radar still works..._

Sharon's doorbell rang which alerted Pepper as he ran to the door and barked. Sharon walked to her door and opened it as she smiled at the man standing on the threshold. He had short chestnut brown hair that swept over his forehead a little. He was wearing a casual jeans and tshirt outfit, but in his hand was the official veterinarian's first aid kit.

"Hi Lucas" Sharon greeted happily

"Hey Sharon" Lucas greeted as he smiled kindly.

"C'mon in."

Lucas stepped into the house and noticed Knuckles on the couch, trying to avoid being licked to death by Pepper.

"So, you must be Knuckles" Lucas addressed to the Echidna

To his surprise, Knuckles looked up at Lucas with narrowed eyes and crossed his arms stubbornly "Yeah, that's me"

Lucas blinked once behind his thick rimmed glasses, not at all expecting for Knuckles to respond.

"Well uh...Sharon never mentioned you could talk"

"I've been surprising people lately" Knuckles retorted

"That is absolutely remarkable!" Lucas exclaimed excitedly like a kid in a candy store.

He turned to Sharon "And you said he fell from...space?"

"No, he's not from space" Sharon said to him as she winked at Knuckles playfully "He's from planet Mobius and guards his Master Emerald"

Lucas wasn't at all, afraid or skeptical of Sharon's words. He believed she wouldn't make this sort of thing up just for fun. Besides, he has read his fine share of science fiction novels and watched Sci fi TV shows to believe in life forms outside of space.

"Well Knuckles," Lucas addressed to him as he adjusted his glasses "Since I can talk to you directly, I can tell you that I'm afraid I haven't treated an animal that walked on two feet that wasn't a bird before, but I have treated animals with broken bones, so I'll do the best I can"

Lucas inspected the injury for a few moments and took out some tools from his first aid kit. Knuckles saw they were the materials to make a cast and he watched Lucas create a cast suitable for Knuckles' thin leg.

_For being unfamiliar with working with two legged animals, he sure knows what he's doing_

The cast was wrapped around his calf snugly but also securely.

"You're going to need crutches" Lucas said to Knuckles "But I'm afraid I don't have any with me right now. I'm going to have to find some that are suitable to your height."

"I got an idea!" Sharon exclaimed

Knuckles and Lucas turned their heads to Sharon as she went outside to her backyard. She stretched her body up to the lowest branch of her tree to retrieve a forked sturdy twig from the branch. She wondered around the tree until she found an identical twig of equal sturdiness and size. She went inside and gave them to Knuckles.

"I think they're sturdy and big enough for you to use. Try them out."

Knuckles was a little skeptical about her idea but he grabbed the twigs and tried to use them as crutches as he tried to walk around. After a few seconds of struggling, Knuckles managed to carry himself up and walk around.

"It works" Knuckles said to Sharon with a small hint of happiness.

"I'm very aware of the enviroment" Sharon told him "and I think it's always there to protect us or to help us out when we need it the most."

"You sounds like a hippie" Lucas teased

"I do not!" Sharon argued

Lucas chuckled "You care about the enviroment, you're a health nut, and you belive that love makes the world go 'round...yeah, you're a hippie!"

"I watch what I eat because of my job." Sharon replied as she poked Lucas on the chest

playfully "Us trainers have to set a good example to our clients. Besides that, I do not believe love makes the world go 'round. Who do you think I am? A Beatle?"

"A Beatle?" Knuckles asked "Why would he think you're a bug?"

Lucas and Sharon laughed at Knuckles' question, not making fun of him, but just giggling up a storm.

"What's so funny?!" Knuckles asked defensively

"Oh nothing..." Sharon said "It's something you won't understand"

Knuckles scowled, crossed his arms, and rolled his eyes. He never liked feeling like a fool in front of other people. The sound of the doorbell silenced Lucas and Sharon as she made her way to her door. When she answered it, there stood a frantic looking old lady holding a crucifix in her hands.

"Hi, Mrs. Wilson" Sharon greeted

"Hello, Sherry" the senior citizen greeted with a hint of fear in her voice "I heard

something loud come from your home! Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine!" Sharon replied kindly "Something just fell from my garden, that's all"

"It was a potted plant" Lucas said hastily as he approached Sharon's side

"Are you sure?!" Mrs Wilson asked as she glanced at Lucas "Because Mrs. Robinson from next door said she saw something fall from the sky and land in your backyard!"

"Oh."

Sharon blushed and looked nervous. She didn't want anyone, besides Lucas, to know about Knuckles.

"Have you heard the term "Fallen Angel?" Sherry?" the catholic lady asked nervously "Maybe that's what that was..."

"Um...what is a fallen angel?" Sharon asked.

She and Lucas exchanged confused looks before turning to their neighbor.

"A fallen angel is a demon!" the lady said with a condemned sound in her voice "Maybe a fallen angel fell from the heavens and landed in your backyard before it went straight to hell!"

What on earth, is this woman smoking? Sharon thought _I respect people's religions, but...seriously?! There aren't demons at my home!_

_Are you serious, old lady?_ Lucas thought as he hid his face in his hand.

"Well, Mrs. Wilson..." Sharon began

"Maybe that's not the case" Lucas added hastily, trying to keep the situation calm "I do know the medication Mrs. Robinson takes can have a side effect of general hallucinations, so maybe it was just a scare, but nothing harmful!"

Mrs. Wilson seemed to be convinced by the Veterinarian, as she held her hand over her heart, closed her eyes and sighed a sigh of relief

"You may be right, Lucas" she said with a relieved smile

She ruffled his hair and pinched his cheeks, like a Grandmother cooing over her grandchild

"You're such a smart, handsome young man! And you Sherry, such a beautiful and considerate young lady!"

"Thank you Mrs Wilson" Lucas and Sharon said in unison, kindly with hints of relief in their voices.

_Thank you Lucas, for being a good liar..._

Mrs Wilson peeked inside Sharon's home through the slightly opened door. "But just so my heart can be at ease, may I please come in and bless this house?"

Lucas and Sharon began to object, but the Catholic made her way inside and began reciting a Biblical verse with her eyes closed...

_Bless this home of it's..._

Before Knuckles could even move to try to hide, Mrs Wilson caught a glimpse of the red echidna and paused her sermon...right before letting outa blood-curtling screech.

"A RED DEMON! RID OF THIS HOME WITH YOUR SINFUL WAYS DEMON!" She yelled at Knuckles before she felt dizzy and fainted.

Sharon quickly held the lady's head to prevent it handing on the hard tiles.

"Great! Another human knows I'm here?!" Knuckles asked angrily,

"It's not our fault! She just barged in the house!" Sharon argued.

She looked down at the unconscious Mrs. Wilson and asked Lucas "What do we do with her? We cant have her stay here, knowing she'll flip out when she sees Knuckles!"

"She always keeps a spare key under her welcome mat" Lucas said as he helped Sharon with the unconscious lady.

Sharon carried Mrs Wilson by her legs as Lucas got a hold of her head. They made their way out the door and onto the sidewalk as they carefully carried the body up the street and three houses down. Lucas lifted the welcome mat and found a key, just as he predicted. He unlocked the door and led the way as they continued to carry the old lady into her house.

"Where do we put her?" Sharon asked

"Her room?" Lucas offered

"I guess we have no other choice"

They carried her to her comfortable little bedroom and closed her door. They quickly left the house and locked the door from the outside and hid the key.

"Its late at night, we're carrying a body, and sneaking into a house!" Lucas exclaimed in a panic "Let's get out of here, before we're spotted!"

"Don't worry Lucas!" she comforted "We'll be able to back up what we're doing! And look, no one is even outside"

Lucas' breathing became uneven and wheezy as his anxiety grew. He reached for his inhaler and took a deep breath from it as he pressed down on the little button. He let out a sigh of relief as he removed it from his mouth.

"Are you okay?" Sharon asked as she held her friends hand

His cheeks turned pink as soon as his hand made contact with hers.

"Yes, I'm better" he said with a smile

She smiled back at him "I'm glad. Now, let's go back to Knuckles to try and figure out what he wants to do, in terms of living here..."

"Alright"

She led the way as she still got a hold on Lucas' hand, much to his delight

When they arrived back at her home, they found Knuckles walking around on his twig crutches.

"Well, she's safe and sound at home" Sharon addressed to Knuckles "Let's just hope she doesn't remember seeing you"

"Yeah, let's really hope" Knuckles replied with a roll of his eyes as he continued walking around

"So what do you want to do?" she asked the echidna "In terms of living here?"

"I'm not going to live here" Knuckles replied stubbornly "I'll only stay until I get all of the pieces of the master emerald so that I may go home."

"Master Emerald?" Lucas asked curiously

"It's the main source of power on my homeland" He explained as he sat back down on the couch.

Lucas and Sharon sat by him as he explained.

"The master emerald has been our source of power for many generations and my bloodline always had guardians protecting it. many have tried to obtain it and use it for its powers, mainly for evil so us guardians have to protect it"

"Are you the only guardian of it?" Lucas asked

"Yes. There is no one else on the island, but if I ignore my duties, it could result in dire consequences for the island and preserving my heritage and home."

"Wow" Sharon replied "So what are you doing to do with the pieces of it once you find all of them?"

"I can restore the emerald back to its original form and retain its powers" KNuckles replied "but I'm also going to have to find a way to use the emeralds power to send me back home"

"Do you know where the emerald peices are?" Lucas asked

"No. It broke in space as I was fighting my enemy, Dr. Eggman"

Lucas and Sharon chuckled

"Eggman?" Sharon asked as she laughed "What kind of stupid name is that?"

Knuckles smiled a little "His body is in the shape of an egg"

Lucas and Sharon continued to laugh "He sounds like quite the character" Lucas said sarcastically

"Ugh, you don't know the half of it" Knuckles replied with another eye roll

"So how will you be able ti find the pieces?" Sharon asked

"I don't know..." Knuckles replied "All I know is that they probably landed on your continent."

"So you're gonna have to look for them all around North America..." Lucas said with wide eyes "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but North America is huge."

"And you can't go all around North America with that leg!" Sharon pointed out

Knuckles sighed in frustration "Fine...so...may I stay here in the meantime to heal?"

Sharon smiled "Of course"

**AN: So now you know who rescued Knuckles She seems nice doesnt she? As well as Lucas, who seems to be a bit smitten with Sharon ;)**

**Reviews are highly appreciated!**


End file.
